The Saturday morning motorcycle ride turned out to be fantastic. Came to me the night before...be fun to see something new. So rode to Lexington, VA starting at 630AM. Early start due to the expected heat and humidity..both of which would be over 100.
Went up the Midlothian Turnpike which was a fun road early in the morning. Hardly any traffic and it was cool. Both those conditions would change as the day went on. Still a lot of interesting things to see there, and I enjoyed walking around. First stop was the Visitor Center, and you need to do that if you do go...lots of good information to be found there.
Using the maps at the Visitor Center I was able to find everything I wanted to see. Have more photos on the Richmond and Me blog page. There I said the Statue of Lee in the Lee Chapel was NOT the grave (and its not) these are the graves of the General and his wife. They can be found in the basement which also has a very fine museum to the General. Interesting man as where they all. I think that US Grant said it best when he spoke of admiring their dedication to their cause, though that cause was the worst men ever fought for.
I also have a photo of Stonewall Jackson's grave on the Richmond and Me page, and his house is also there. He also was a teacher (Jackson) at VMI and I wandered around there. Both VMI as well as Washington and Lee are beautiful schools.
Even with the heat. had a great time wandering around the campuses of the schools. Lots of great old buildings and a lot of history there.
The George Marshall Museum was really interesting if small. Still a lot of very interesting items and history to be found there. One thing they had that I had never seen was the Nobel Peace Prize which is at left. I believe that he won it for The Marshall Plan which he designed which basically enabled Europe to recover after World War II. To everyone's credit they did things different after that war, unlike WWI. Wanted to prevent another World War and (so far) that has worked.
The museums, the graves, the schools, the town...it was all a lot of fun. I was glad that I took this ride. Was going to be a real short trip, but ended up spending a lot more time just looking around and seeing things then I had imagined the night before when it was planned.
Still a lot of new and very interesting things to see in Virginia, this is a very fun state with a lot of things to offer and a lot of variety.
Looking forward to some more explorations in the very near future. Got quite a few ideas in mind.
Of course, there also are some old favorites of mine, and The Blue Ridge Parkway is pretty much at the top of the list. Sure I like beaches but riding up there in the (somewhat today) cooler air is a great deal of fun. Just watch your speed there...top speed is 45 and rangers do work the roads. Why race down the roads though when you have such amazing sights? It is my favorite road to explore and one I come to a few times a year. In fact this is not my first visit this year, and probably won't be my last. Went some 60 miles on the Parkway and that took me back to I-64 which is how I got back to Richmond. Made a couple of water stops at rest areas, it was blazing hot, but a great time and a fantastic ride. One of the bigger ones of late which took me a total from the trip meter of 289 miles.
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